The Untouchables of Istanbul What called my attention to these men, and I never saw a woman amongst them, was the size of the bags that they hand trucked around the steep hills of Istanbul. They seemed too big and heavy for any man to handle. There are dirtier and more grueling jobs in the world. But coal miners expose their labor and black dust covered faces and clothes only to their peers. The garbage recyclers of Istanbul get dirty in public. They are stigmatized, and I don't know how these Kurdish migrant workers feel about that-- or should I call them immigrant workers? Kurds in Turkey feel like second class citizens. They're a sizable ethnic group that has suffered ethnocide, ethnic cleansing and discrimination going way back from the time of the Ottoman empire. Many of these collectors come from small Kurdish towns in the east and south east of Turkey, and their accent and costumes give their origin away making it more difficult to get better jobs. Suicide bombings in Istanbul, attributed to PKK ( Kurdistan Worker's Party), have not made life better for these people. They live on the margin of society, work for them selves and get paid according to the weight and quality of what they bring in to their recycling center. Their territories are all mapped out, and there is in Istanbul no dumpster left un-scavenged on a daily basis. Through the effort of the collectors, tons of matter get recycled and the service to society is much greater than the little money they receive. In the short time that I spent with these men, I learned to have a great admiration for their work ethic and wish that I could relay that to them. I know it is a complex issue involving undoing artificial boundaries created by Europeans, but I wish that one day Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria agree to recognize Kurdistan and that these people would be able to take destiny in their own hands.

Jose Fernandes is fine art international photographer based in New Orleans working in the areas of Social Documentary. Jose and his wife , Cecelia Fernandes, own Eight One Eight Contemporary Photography Gallery located at 818 Royal Street Upstairs in New Orleans which showcases Jose's photographic work as well as C+J works, the collaborative work with his wife.To access Eight One Eight website go to https://www.gallery818photography.com